My husband's family was turned upside down on 7/18/15. James "Sonny" Goggles was shot in the head while he was being held at The Center of Hope (detox center) located in Riverton, Wyoming on the boundaries of the Wind River Indian Reservation. According to the city officials he was literally hunted down.

My mother in law (Rose Goggles) keeps my husband and I updated about his condition. His sister Rose Goggles and their mother Katherine Osborne have been by his side.

He underwent surgery that same night after he was life flighted to Casper, Wyoming doctors removed a majority of the bullet and skull fragments however at this point in time the they believe he won't be able to walk again. He can't hear or see out of the right side. He is still on a ventilator but he sort of knows what's going on he squeezed Rose's hand. It's very hard on the family.

When he was shot he was sleeping when the shooter bypassed 2 employees and went directly for him and another. The other victim did not survive due to a gunshot to the head as well.

Please share his story. I'll answer any questions you have for my mother in law at this point in time it's to much for her. Read the stories on county 10 on Facebook I'll copy some links. Everyone is fired up because they believe it is a hate crime.

On behalf of our family the following letter was submitted to the Wind River News, Casper Star Tribune and Indian Country Today. My nephew Stallone had many friends of various ethnic backgrounds and socioeconomic status. His passing has brought national media attention, but for him that wouldn't be enough. The following letter is a call to all who wish for a better tomorrow. Thank you in advance for your new found commitment to make the world a better place by striving each day, one day at a time to live in accordance with the values and beliefs that have sustained our people in success and happiness from the beginning of time.
We, the family of Stallone Trosper, write from a place of terrible grief and sadness. Saturday, July 18th, Stallone, our beloved son, brother, nephew, cousin, uncle and friend was taken from us by an unconscionable act of hate. A man whom he’d never met, and to whom he had done no harm, murdered him while he lay at rest in a place of recovery.
Our grief has been compunded by the nature of this heinous crime’s coverage. For that reason we feel compelled to share our perspective.
Presumably in an attempt to make sense of this senseless act, the media has returned the focus, again and again, to the perpetrator and his reportedly self-declared motive that “He was tired of homeless people using the city park as a sewer”. This insistence on analyzing the reasoning of a clearly disturbed mind has numerous troubling implications.
Foremost, it implies that there could possibly be some justification for the murder’s actions. Nothing of, course, could be further from the truth.
Secondly, such an emphasis requires repeated description of the perpetrator – descriptions which refer to his history of volunteer service and civic employment. The suggestion we hear is that “Well heck, he really was an upstanding member of the community, a real swell guy, except for that whole murdering thing.” That is a suggestion that we can no longer bear to read.
Perhaps most troubling to us though have been the implications about Stallone that arise from consideration of the murderer’s motives. In saying that he “set-out to kill as many people that fit his criteria as he could”, Stallone is inherently relegated to a hateful, racist stereotype.
Stallone was not a stereotype. He was not homeless, and he did not frequent the park. He was a cherished part of a loving and accomplished family, and a member of a proud community. Stallone was kind, he was meek, he was humble and he was loving. There was not a mean bone in his body. Like most of our young people he had plans to make the Wind River community – on and off the reservation – a better place. As with all of us, Stallone had challenges. He was engaged in the hard work of overcoming those challenges when his plans, his potential and his life were ended by ruthless ignorance and hate.
Stallone cannot and will not be replaced. He is lost to us forever. But our community, native and non-native peoples alike, must find a way to grow as a result of his sacrifice. That necessary growth cannot and will not come from denial.
Just as Stallone faced his addiction head-on, we too must acknowledge that we, as Shoshone, Arapaho, Wyomingites, Americans and human beings have deep-seated, desperate and dangerous problems. We share trouble with drugs and alcohol. We are besieged by racism. We are shackled by intertribal divisions. These problems are not bounded by any tribe, reservation line, county border, race, creed, earning’s bracket or social status. They plague us all, are owned by everyone and can only be beaten back together.
Our Elders tell us that the creator has a plan for each of us. We believe that Stallone’s sacrifice is a wake-up call to the community, and that we must return to the fundamental tenets of civilized humanity. Love, kindness, respect, loyalty, knowledge, spirituality, honor, family, hard work, sacrifice and perseverance: these are the universal moral fibers that separate man from his baser animal nature. And they are our only paths to a better future.
So please, let’s not devote any more energy to the cloudy motives of a troubled mind. Let’s instead start doing the hard work of building a better tomorrow, together.
Sincerely,
The Family of Stallone Trosper

The name of the suspect in Wednesday's double homicide in Pryor has been confirmed and identified as Jesus Deniz Mendoza, 18, of Worland, Wyo.

The Park County Wyoming Sheriff's Office released his booking photo Thursday morning.

Mendoza was arrested Wednesday afternoon in connection to the deaths of Jason Shane, 52, of Pryor and his wife, Tana Shane, who is estimated by family members to be in her late 40’s or early 50’s.

Both lost their lives when they were shot Wednesday shortly after 10 a.m. Mendoza was taken into custody around 12:30 p.m. Wednesday more than 150 miles away in Meeteetse, Wyo.

Family members of Jason and Tana Shane said the couple stopped to help Mendoza who was stranded along Pryor Gap Road. According to the family, Mendoza shot and killed the couple and also shot at their 25-year-old daughter who was able to escape and get help.

The case is currently under investigation by the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Crow Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The homicide took place within the boundaries of Big Horn County. The County Attorney Jay Harris said he plans to open a full investigation into Mendoza's activities while he was in the county, before the homicide occurred.

"We have very strong leads that he was not here by happenstance," Harris said over the phone Thursday.

That statement at the end, was Mendoza under investigation already?

Update:

According to Washakie County Circuit Court documents, Deniz was arrested earlier this month for burglary. His bond was originally set at $10,000 cash on July 6. However, on July 16, his bond was modified to a $10,000 signature bond. He was subsequently released from the Washakie County Jail.

Sheriff Steve Rakness said Deniz had been abiding by his bond conditions of checking in twice daily up until yesterday.